The invention relates to a seat fixing device, in particular for anchoring aircraft passenger seats to the floor of an aircraft that has at least one attachment rail that is designed in the form of a hollow section, which is provided on its top side facing the aircraft passenger seat with a longitudinal channel that is limited by the free section sides of the hollow section, wherein said longitudinal channel has through openings that expand its free input cross-section in a presettable grid measure, wherein said through openings are used in the passage of at least one catch part of a locking element, which can be brought into clamping contact with the section sides of the hollow section in a relative movement of the respective catch part transverse to the longitudinal axis of the attachment rail.
Seat anchoring devices and systems such as these are used to configure aircraft passenger seats in a presettable installation pattern with presettable intervals in the longitudinal direction of the aircraft and to equip such an aircraft cabin with seats. In this case, several attachment rails in the floor of the cabin run in multiple rows next to one another in longitudinal direction of the aircraft body. In this case, at regular intervals, an aircraft passenger seat or a series of aircraft passenger seats configured next to one another is hinged securely as a seating unit with its pedestal feet on the attachment rails according to the presettable seat configuration pattern, in longitudinal direction of the pedestal feet, two pairs of foot components being detachably secured by means of so-called catching elements to two attachment rails that are parallel to one another. Further, loads can also be lashed down and thus secured within the aircraft cabin with the pertinent seat anchoring devices.
In the known solutions of seat anchoring devices, as they can be freely obtained on the market, one basic element has an attaching part to attach to the attachment rail as well as a fastening eye on its top side opposite the attachment rail to secure an attachment pin of the respective pedestal foot for the aircraft passenger seat. On its side facing the attachment rail, the basic element has the catch parts facing each other in pairs in the longitudinal direction with disk-shaped cross-sections, which are to be engaged at intervals from one another in the longitudinal direction of the basic element with the through openings of the attachment rail. The basic element with its catch parts can thus be partially inserted into the through openings, and by virtue of the basic element moving longitudinally relative to the fixed attachment rail by one grid square, the catch parts firmly engage in the through openings from below with the free section sides of the hollow-section-like attachment rail. On the opposite side, the known solution has a crosspiece-like expansion on the basic element, this expansion on the top side supporting the section sides of the attachment rail and overlapping through openings configured between the two pairs of catch parts of the basic element.
In the known solutions, the respective basic element then has an attaching part, which is also referred to as “plunger” in technical terminology, which can be moved back and forth by means of an attachment device of the basic element transverse to the longitudinal movability, whereby in the lowered position, other catch parts of the attaching part engage precision-fitted in the corresponding through openings of the section bars and the attaching part is secured in longitudinal direction in its position on the attachment rail, which otherwise is secured against vertical lifting by the catch parts, which engage below the free section sides of the attachment rail. By tightening an anchoring means of the attachment device, the other catch parts of the attaching part (plunger) are then, on the one hand, definitively fixed in their position on the attachment rail, and, moreover, the other catch parts of the basic element are clamped against the section sides of the hollow chamber-like attachment rail, such that a more secure holding of the basic element on the attachment rail is achieved both in axial direction and in radial direction.
A seat anchoring system is known by U.S. Pat. No. 3,241,501, in which the catch parts of a basic element can be engaged without further relative movement along the longitudinal direction of the attachment rail with the corresponding recesses within two adjacent section sides of the hollow section as an attachment rail. A plate-like attaching part, which is provided on its lower side with other catch parts that engage in the free through openings that expand the input cross-section by a presettable grid measure in the attachment rail, is rigidly connected to this basic element. Another catch part configured in the middle, as a component of an activating pin, is placed so that it can move axially lengthwise in the basic element between the two other catch parts of the basic element via a loop handle and against the spring force of a compression spring from a basic position, in which the other center catch part, when engaged, can be pulled out into an activation position, with the through opening corresponding thereto, a position in which a pinion gear of the activating pin engages with pinion gears of the adjacent catch parts of the basic element.
If the handle tube is now pivoted by hand by 90°, the above-mentioned pinion gear drive is activated and the catch parts of the basic element are pivoted over this pinion gear drive into a locking position transverse to the longitudinal direction of the attachment rails, in which tapering base parts of the catch parts engage under the respective section sides of the hollow section as attachment rails. In the pertinent locking position, at least the other catch parts of the attaching part configured on the outside are then engaged with the through openings in the expanded cross-section. A dismantling process of the seat anchoring system from the corresponding attachment rail is correspondingly possible in reverse sequence as described. Although this known solution has the advantage that the attaching system can be attached directly to the rail without further longitudinal movement in the longitudinal direction of the attachment rails, the pivoting of the catch parts of the basic element by 90° from an initial position is necessary for the actual locking process, such that obstructions to progress come into operation or even result in damage to the relatively sensitive section sides of the hollow section, in particular if the latter should be composed of light metal materials for weight reasons.
Although in the above-described known solutions, a more reliable dispersion of crash forces, which can act on the aircraft passenger seat, is achieved in the floor structure of the aircraft cabin with its attachment rails, the increased assembly costs that result in practical applications are disadvantageous and the existing systems are not suitable for a frequent installation or modification. Also, as indicated in the foregoing, malfunctions by obstructions in operation are not ruled out and with respect to the structurally, partially complicated design, the known systems are costly in production.